Knicks hope to reverse losing trend at Garden
Toney Douglas, left, is questionable for Tuesday night's game against the Nets at Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks have struggled this year. (Nov. 27, 2010) Credit: Jim McIsaac
GREENBURGH, N.Y. - The Knicks have been playing winning basketball. They've been playing exciting basketball. They just haven't been doing either at home.
The Knicks (9-9) enter tonight's game against the Nets at the Garden coming off a thrilling 125-116 double-overtime win at Detroit. They also enter it with a 2-5 home record.
In their most recent game in front of their own fans, a 99-90 clunker of a loss to Atlanta on Saturday afternoon, they were booed in the second and fourth quarters.
A win against the rival Nets (6-11) would be a nice way to reverse a perplexing trend.
"We really don't know why," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said of the fact that his team has been more successful on the road (7-4). "Sometimes it's just scheduling and sometimes it's letting down when we get home because we're not focused. I don't know if it is a long-term effect, but hopefully, it's something that Tuesday we can start turning around."
Knicks president Donnie Walsh was back at practice after taking two weeks away from the team for hip surgery. While he was gone, the Knicks went 3-1 on a West Coast trip and were 6-2 overall.
"From what I've seen on television, they are really grasping our style and playing a lot better," Walsh said. "When you're winning on the road and you're not winning at home, there will be a lot of over-analyzation.
"Mentally, when you're on the road, you know you have to be the best. Whatever the reasons, we have to find the answer to this and make this our home court, because we have one of the best home courts in the league and we haven't taken advantage of it."
With 10 new players on the team, it makes sense that the Garden doesn't feel like home yet. Rookie starter Landry Fields said that to please the fans, players might be pressing at home.
"I think we jell more on the road than at home just because it's kind of a mentality of us against the world," Fields said.
Notes & quotes: Ronny Turiaf (sore left knee) and Toney Douglas (bruised right quadriceps) are listed as questionable for tonight's game . . . The team said Walsh is not expected to attend the next couple of home games because he needs to be careful maneuvering in a crowd as he recovers from his surgery . . . After back-to-back games against Atlanta and Detroit - and with four of the five starters playing more than 50 minutes in the double-overtime win over the Pistons - the starters were given a recovery day and were not on the court.
